Walking With Eyes Tight Shut
by Emjen Enla
Summary: [Fightingverse] Ambroos Baas came to Ketterdam to reform it. He may not realize it yet, but he's in way over his head.


**I don't own SoC.**

**This fic should stand on its own, but if you want a better idea of who all these OCs are read the fic "One Villain, Two Villain" in this series (I think it's published in conjunction with "Business As Usual" on here) ****which features Kaz and Inej talking a bit more about them.**

**Trigger Warnings: Religious Fanaticism, Ableist Language**

* * *

Ambroos Baas found Ketterdam just as disgusting as he had expected it to be.

He rode into the city on a barge with flocks of godless people clamouring over each other to get to the city of sin. It was sickening. Yes, Ghezen was the god of commerce but what went on in Ketterdam was not commerce. Ghezen looked favorably on legitimate finance endeavours, what Ketterdam's reprobate gangs did was not commerce, it was an abomination.

Thankfully the Ketterdam Merchant Council was full of upright people who were more than willing to help Baas in his mission to transform Ketterdam. The runner who had met him at the barge took Baas to meet them. They were all gathered to meet him which was nice. There had been other places he had been where the people in charge wouldn't even talk to him and he had to convert them before he could even step near the discordant masses.

The runner lead Baas into the Council chamber which was already milling with the various members of the Council. A big man with wide shoulders and a strangely crooked nose came over to meet them. "Master Baas!" he said holding out his hand with a wide smile. "So pleased to meet you! I am Kees Van Dijk."

"Councilman Van Dijk, so nice to meet you!" Baas grinned. Councilman Van Dijk had been the one who had funded his trip. He was so thankful for the help. Staying in Ketterdam was expensive, left to his own devices he wasn't sure if he would have been able to afford to stay somewhere that would be safe from the gangs. Though if he was being honest with himself he had to admit that, if left to his own devices, he probably wouldn't have come to Ketterdam in the first place. This whole endeavour was Van Dijk's suggestion and Baas took that as a sign from Ghezen. Obviously he was becoming complacent and needed to move on to the next step of his ministry.

When Van Dijk released Baas's hand a young man with red curls was standing nearby with a dark-skinned man of a similar age. Both were watching with unreadable expressions on their faces. Baas decided to nip any trouble they might cause in the bud and went over with a jovial smile on his face. "So nice to make your acquaintance," he said, holding out his hand. "I am Ambroos Baas."

The red-head took his hand with tight-lipped smile. "Wylan Van Eck," he said. "This is my husband, Jesper Fahey."

Baas shook hands with Fahey and then turned back to Van Eck. He knew there was a Van Eck on the Merchant Council so he figured he could make some small talk. "Will your father be here today?"

Van Eck's face froze. "My father is in prison for crimes against the Council and Ghezen," he said, coolly. "I am the Councilman Van Eck."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Baas cried, trying to correct the mistake. "I made a mistake. It's just your age! I thought that-"

"I know what you thought," Van Eck said in a voice like ice.

"Wylan!" Van Dijk swept in, still wearing a huge smile. Baas didn't think anyone missed that he didn't refer to Van Eck by his title. "So good to see you've met Master Baas. He's exactly what this city needs."

Van Eck's gaze flitted between Baas and Van Dijk. "I'm sure that's true," he said after a moment, then inclined his head. "If you'll excuse me," and he and Fahey walked away.

* * *

Baas had come to the meeting prepared to preach, but the Merchant Council wanted to get right down to discussing business. They quickly confirmed that the real problem in Ketterdam was the gangs. They assured Baas that the merchant class was good and pious, but lived in fear of what might happen if they went against the gangs. All Baas needed to do was stir up the courage necessary to stand up to the gangs and everything would be better.

"To do that we will need some kind of great victory," Van Dijk said. "Something which will tell everyone that things are going to be different this time."

"What kind of victory are you thinking?" another Councilman asked. Baas had already forgotten his name.

"I think we should go for the biggest victory possible," Van Dijk said. "A victory that will not just send a message but also severally hamper the wayward masses in their attempts to stand against us. I believe the time has come for Kaz Brekker to hang."

There was dead silence in the chamber. Baas felt the blood drain from his face. He knew about Kaz Brekker, the Bastard of the Barrel, the way most Kerch who weren't from Ketterdam knew of him, as a semi-mythical figure akin to a demon, something that was not really human at all. It was a little hard to believe that to the people of Ketterdam Kaz Brekker was a real and present threat, not just a character in scary stories children told each other. Baas swallowed, and tried not to look as scared as he felt. Fortunately he was far from the only person who was struggling to look brave. Most of the Merchant Council looked like their insides had turned to water.

"People have been trying to arrest Kaz Brekker for a decade and never managed it," Van Eck said after a moment. He was one of the calmest people in the room. He looked a little concerned, but not at all frightened. Fahey was fidgeting next to him, though he also looked more worried than afraid. "He has dirt on literally every notable person in Ketterdam, so there isn't a judge in the city who would risk convicting him for even the slightest infraction. What makes you think hanging him is even remotely possible?"

"Don't worry about those logistics," Van Dijk said with a grin. "I know I can find a judge, but first we must catch him and I think that is very possible."

"But we're talking about _Kaz Brekker_," one of the other Councilmen said.

"Regardless of what the stories say he is just a man," Van Dijk said. Baas envied his lack of fear. "And a young one at that. No more than twenty-five, according to my sources. We all know young people do not yet have enough wisdom and life experience to handle everything the world might throw at them. If we take Brekker out of his comfort zone he will stumble and we will have him."

Fahey leaned forwards in his chair, resting his elbows on the table. "According to _my _sources Kaz Brekker has been in some form of leadership position in the gangs since he was fourteen or fifteen. That's about how old your son is, isn't he, Councilman Van Dijk? Please explain to me how you can know that and argue someone with that kind of experience can't handle everything this city throws at them?"

Van Dijk just smirked. "Yes, well you would know all about when Kaz Brekker came to power, wouldn't you?"

Fahey opened his mouth to argue, but Van Eck set a hand on his arm. "Jesper," he whispered.

Fahey sat back in his seat, visibly fuming.

Van Dijk turned towards Baas, still smirking. "So, as I said," he said, "It's all a matter of coming up with the right plan. Do you agree this is the best way to proceed?"

Baas was not used to things going like this. Normally when he came to a place he had a march around preaching for a while before he could find people willing to listen to him. He had never started by taking part in a plot to get a gang boss arrested, but still, this was Ketterdam, it was a whole different animal. "Of course," he said, trying to sound in control. "Whatever you think is best."

* * *

After the meeting broke up, Van Dijk insisted on giving Baas a ride to the Geldrenner Hotel in his private carriage. Baas thought the meeting had gone rather well once everyone was on board with arresting Kaz Brekker. They'd come up with a plan to use Baas's presence to lure Brekker into a meeting where Van Dijk's private guards-Van Dijk argued that they were less likely to be bought out than the _stadwatch_-were waiting to arrest him. Even though all the planning had gone well, Van Dijk was still in a bad mood.

"Damn that Van Eck," he snarled. "I really thought we had him this time. If only he wouldn't have stopped his husband."

"What do you mean?" Baas asked. "Has he done something?"

"Done something?" Van Dijk snorted. "Depends if you count conspiring with Kaz Brekker to get his father thrown in prison as doing something."

"What?" Baas gasped. "But he said that his father was in prison for cheating and blasphemy."

"He is," Van Dijk said. "He was caught trying to fix an indenture auction and swindling the Merchant Council, but when he was arrested, old Jan Van Eck wouldn't stop shouting about how he'd been framed by Brekker with his son's help. No one believed it at the time, but over the years things have started to smell a little fishy."

"Oh," Baas said. He had so many questions he couldn't think of which one to ask first, but thankfully Van Dijk didn't need to be encouraged.

"Thing is," Van Dijk said, "Jan reported little Wylan missing just before the auction and claimed he'd been kidnapped by Brekker. However, in truth, Wylan Van Eck had been missing for months before this. Myself and a number of others think the kid ran off in a fit of teenage rebellion and fell in with Brekker who realized how handy it would be to have an in on the Merchant Council and promised Wylan the Van Eck estate on a silver platter. Jan was writing him out of the will, you have to realize, said the kid was an idiot who couldn't read and would drive the estate to ruin."

"Is he?" Baas asked.

"What?"

"An idiot?"

"Well I've never seen the kid read and neither has anyone else," Van Dijk said. "That's enough answer for me. But that's not even the most damning evidence. The most damning is Fahey."

"What about him?"

"Jesper Fahey is a known member of the Dregs," Van Dijk said. When Baas didn't appear to understand he went on, "Kaz Brekker's gang. Apparently, he was pretty close to Brekker back in the day. Fahey started living with Wylan at the Van Eck mansion after Jan went to prison. He doesn't seem to have had any contact with Brekker or the Dregs since, but everyone knows those reprobates never actually reform."

"Do you think the young Van Eck is being blackmailed?" Baas asked, struggling to reconcile the cool but unthreatening young man he'd met today with this new information.

"No, I really don't," Van Dijk said. "Wylan Van Eck is some of the worst scum in this city. He plays at being an upstanding merchant while carrying on with Barrel gangs in the dark. Oh how I wish I could give him what's coming for him."

"Why haven't you?" Baas asked. "If you know he's done wrong."

"That's just it," Van Dijk huffed. "Everyone knows it, but no one can prove it. The clearest evidence we have is Jan's testimony when he was arrested and even I'll admit that he was raving like a madman at the time. No one can catch Wylan colluding with anyone even approaching Barrel trash, let alone with Kaz Brekker, and all the servants and the medik have been paid handsomely not to discuss the family's business. There's simply no proof."

"If it's within my power during my stay here, I will do my utmost to make sure he faces justice," Baas said. He wasn't sure if he could do that. Normally he preached until people felt enough guilt to confess to their sins themselves, but he doubted that would work on someone who was obviously as spiritually hardened as Van Eck.

Van Dijk grinned. "That's what I would expect," he said. "After all, didn't you come here to clean the city up?"

* * *

The next few days passed in a whirlwind of activity. Baas wanted to go out preaching, but Van Dijk maintained that until Kaz Brekker was out of the picture it wasn't safe. "_Brekker knows what a threat you are to him,"_ he'd said. "_His agents are looking for a chance to stop your important work before it has begun. If you go out into the streets, you will be murdered before you have the chance to breathe."_

Baas did not want to be murdered, so he stayed in his suite and tried to be patient. It was hard. He was thankful for the Merchant Council's support, but he was used to actually doing things himself instead of waiting for someone else to do them.

The good news was that the plot to arrest Kaz Brekker was going well. They made contact with the gang leader within days, though Van Dijk refused to tell Baas exactly how, saying that it was unimportant. However, he promised that Brekker would show up at the meeting. He said it was inevitable.

The day that Van Dijk gave him this report, Baas ate supper late. His late meal was made even later by the kitchen being unusually slow. Baas spent half an hour complaining to the management before finally making his way back upstairs to the Ketterdam suite, ready to fall into the bath.

His first indication that something was not right was that the entire suite was dark when he came in. The only light was from the patch of moonlight that swept across the floor from the only window in the suite which had the curtains drawn back. Normally the hotel staff made sure that things were lit and clean. Obviously, he had another thing to complain about. He turned around to go back down to have another round with the manager.

"Going somewhere, Master Baas?"

Baas jumped and whirled around. He could have sworn he'd heard something, but surely his ears were just playing tricks on him. He was alone in his room, the door had been locked before he'd unlocked it. Everything was fine.

Something moved in the shadows just outside of the patch of moonlight.

"Who's there?" Baas cried.

The figure moved again. Baas's mind conjured images of demons and volcra and hundreds of other things that lurked in the dark. His knees trembled. The figure moved again.

"Who are you?" Baas demanded.

"You don't know me?" the figure said in a man's voice. "But you've been trying so hard to set a trap for me. I'm hurt." After a moment he stepped just close enough to the moonlight that Baas could see his outline and grinned. It was a harsh, slit-like show of teeth. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ambroos Baas. My name is Kaz Brekker."

* * *

Baas stumbled backwards, hands gasping for something to use as a weapon. "Our meeting isn't today!" he finally forced out.

"Oh, yes," Brekker said. "I'm perfectly aware that your transparent plot to arrest me is meant to take place later. That's why I'm here now."

Baas hit the end table next to the door and fumbled for the pull for the bell to call the hotel staff. He yanked on it once, twice, three times but nothing happened.

Kaz Brekker laughed, it was low sound exactly like you'd expect from a demon. "That won't do you any good," he said. "No one will hear you."

_Ghezen help me, I'm going to die_. "Did you kill everyone else here? Are you going to kill me?" Baas demanded, wishing his voice was steadier. He was Ghezen's messenger, he should be able to meet his martyrdom upright and unshaking. He felt something warm and wet run down his leg and realized he'd wet himself.

Another demonic laugh, Brekker seemed to think everything he did was hilarious. It only made the whole thing more terrifying. "No, I didn't kill anyone. I simply disconnected your bell. And I have no intention of killing you unless you give me reason to. I'm simply here to talk. That's what you wanted isn't it?"

No it wasn't. He'd wanted Brekker arrested and off the streets, and he'd wanted to do it quickly. He had never intended to talk. It was obvious that Brekker couldn't be saved. Everything he'd ever heard about the man confirmed that. The worst part was that he could tell Brekker knew that. He knew their meeting had never meant to be one of talking and he was rubbing Baas's face in it.

Brekker finally stepped forward into the moonlight. Van Dijk had said Brekker was under twenty-five, but Baas would have placed the man standing before him as a decade older than that. Brekker had lines around his mouth and bags under his eyes. He was pale as death itself and clothed entirely in black. He looked more like a thin, ghoulish member of the Merchant Council than the leader of a gang in one of the most extravagant cities in the world.

Baas tried to force himself to think through the terror, to come up with something to say. "You must repent and come to know Ghezen," he said, words shaking. He gripped the edge of the table with all his strength. "Your soul depends on it."

Brekker almost doubled over laughing, leaning heavily on his crow's head cane. "I am an atheist, Master Baas," he said when he regained his breath. "You are not the first person to attempt to convert me, and, trust me, if they couldn't, you don't stand a chance."

"Let me go," Baas said. "Go away, you vile creature! Your days are numbered! You'll be in a cell before the month is out!"

"I doubt that," Brekker said. "If the transparent plot to arrest me is any indication of your scheming abilities."

"I stand on the side of goodness and righteousness," Baas forced out. "I will always prevail."

"Goodness?" Brekker asked. "Just how much do you know about Kees Van Dijk?"

Baas had heard this kind of thing before in other places. "Do not try to convince me that you are a good man," he said. "I will not be taken in."

"I'm not claiming to be good," Brekker said. "I do not, however, run brothels or trade slaves. That's more than you can expect from all the other gangs and most of the merchers in Ketterdam."

"Do not try to gain sympathy from me," Baas snapped. "You will not insult good men by comparing yourself to them."

"Did Van Dijk tell you how he told me about this sham meeting?" Brekker asked, voice quiet and threatening. "His agents detained one of the younger Dregs-a child of twelve-mutilated him, then pinned him to the side of a building and wrote a message to me in his blood. Tell me, Master Baas, does that sound like a good man to you?"

"You're lying," Baas said. "I will not be taken in by you. I see through you!"

"If you're so sure I'm lying why don't you do some research into where Councilman Van Dijk got his fortune from?" Brekker said. "You might be surprised by what you find."

"What are you insinuating?"

"There isn't money like Van Dijk's got in the lamp oil industry," Brekker said. "He made his money doing something much less savory."

Baas refused to even let himself think about what Brekker was suggesting. Van Dijk was an honorable man who had treated Baas very well. He would not repay that kindness with unfounded suspicion.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

"Leave Ketterdam," Brekker said. "This is not the place for you or your message. Get out before you meet an unfortunate end."

"Is that a threat, Master Brekker?"

Brekker grinned. "Of course."

Baas felt all his courage flee. He struggled to find it again. How could he ever succeed if he allowed himself to be cowed? However, no matter how much he told himself to be brave, he couldn't stop shaking.

Brekker stalked over to him and leaned in until Baas pulled back and hit the table again. Brekker reached out and removed Baas's hankerchief from the pocket of his coat. He studied it for a moment, running his gloved fingers over the simple monogram lovingly sewn by Baas's dear wife, before sliding it into his own pocket with a smile. "Get out of Ketterdam, Ambroos Baas," he said. "This is your first and last warning."

* * *

After leaving the ever-familiar Ketterdam suite, Kaz made his way down the silent servant's staircase, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of staff who might see him. At the bottom of the stairs the door to the kitchen stood open letting warm light spill out. Waiting in the door was the Geldrenner's cook. As he walked by, Kaz pressed a neatly folded wad of _kruge _and the key to the Ketterdam suite into her hand. Aleid had a dead husband and five small children and was willing to help set up a surprise for someone in their room if paid.

Now that Aleid knew Kaz was out of the room she would go and reconnect Baas's bell. Between the reconnected bell and the fact Kaz had let himself in with the key not lockpicks, by the time the _stadwatch_ arrived it would be hard to prove that the meeting at actually happened and wasn't just in Baas's head. Of course, he didn't think Baas would ever consider that it hadn't been real, especially given that he was now down a handkerchief, but some of the _stadwatch_ and hotel staff might and, given everything that was happening, rumors questioning Ambroos Baas's sanity couldn't hurt.

Kaz let himself out of the Geldrenner and into the street. The summer air was thick, humid and smelled strongly of the rotting stench of the harbor. Kaz tried to ignore it as he darted into the safety of the alleys. He'd only walked a block or so before he was no longer alone.

"How did it go?" Inej asked from behind him. Roeder, Minna and Espen-his trio of replacement spiders-scrambled down to join them on street level with much less finesse than she had.

"He pissed himself," Kaz said turning to face them all.

The spiders cackled with laughter, but Inej cracked a smile, which was much more rewarding than anything the spiders would ever do.

"So what are we doing about the meeting Van Dijk wants?" Espen asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Kaz said.

"It's a trap and we know it," Minna said. "We shouldn't go."

"But Van Dijk used poor Aart's body to broadcast it to the whole city," Espen pointed out. "If we don't go we'll look like cowards."

"Get back up in the buildings, all three of you," Kaz snapped. He didn't have time to listen to them try to plan for him. "Baas is probably already running through the Geldrenner screaming for the _stadwatch_. We need to be gone by the time they get here."

Minna and Roeder climbed right back up the buildings though Espen required an extra glare to get him moving. Inej stayed on the cobblestones, and they walked together down the dark streets, heading for the Slat.

"How are you doing?" Inej asked after a while.

"You really want to start a conversation about my health now?" Kaz asked.

"Well, we can if you want," Inej said. "But I was asking about how you were handling what happened to Aart."

Kaz fought back a grimace. He did not want to think about what Kees Van Dijk had done to little Aart. "This is Ketterdam," he said. "Death is just a sad fact of existence."

"You know you can admit to being shaken," Inej said. "Feeling something when someone dies is not wrong or weak."

"We need to do something to get rid of Baas," he said instead of responding to her. "I was hoping seeing me would cause him to run for the hills with his tail between his legs, but I don't think that's going to happen. He either thinks Van Dijk can protect him from me or he actually has a spine under all that naïveté and religion. Either is problematic, but for all our sakes we better hope it's the former. That one will be easier to deal with."

"What are you going to do?"

"I told him this was his first and last warning," Kaz said. "Therefore we need to make good on that threat if he's not gone in the next day or two."

"You're not going to kill him, are you?" Inej sounded just as disapproving as she always had when discussing such things. It was nostalgic. They didn't get to work together like this very often these days and he'd missed it.

"If he dies he becomes a martyr to the Merchant Council's cause," Kaz said. "We need him discredited and run out of the city. Actually, we'll probably have to expend some effort in keeping him alive. He's probably more useful to the Merchant Council dead than alive because they then won't need to mind his principles or keep him in the dark. I assume Van Dijk hasn't realized that yet, but when he does Ghezen's messenger, Ambroos Baas, will probably meet a sticky end that we'll get blamed for."

"I take it he doesn't know the truth about Van Dijk?"

"That he's a slaver who's most likely in league with the man trying to take over Ketterdam? No, not that I can tell. I tried to get him to question Van Dijk's motives, but he just kept raving about how he 'saw through my horrible lies,' maybe he'll reconsider and look into it, but I highly doubt it."

Inej blew air out between her teeth in frustration, there were few slavers she'd hunted as long and with as little success as Kees Van Dijk. "What I would give to bring him to justice," she growled.

"If he's really in league to Vasilyev, we'll make sure they go down together," Kaz assured her.

"It will be difficult," she said. "He's escaped me this long because he's a coward who bails out whenever things get bad. We'll have to make sure he can't slip away."

"He won't," Kaz assured her with more confidence than he privately felt. He still hadn't managed to crack the code in Vasilyev's letters and not knowing what his enemy was planning was bothering him. He'd given his life to his position in the Dregs and in Ketterdam, and he refused to allow some upstart to take it from him. The mere thought was unacceptable.

He looked up at the buildings and watched Espen leap from one to the next, clearly visible if you knew to look. All his current spiders were terrible at their jobs. He looked back at Inej who had obviously noticed Espen too.

"It's good you came back when you did," Kaz said after a moment. "If you hadn't you'd have missed your shot at Van Dijk." What he really wanted to say was that he was glad she was back and standing with him, but he would never say that out loud.

Inej smiled, giving him the impression that she knew what he actually meant. He wasn't sure if he felt touched or exposed. "I'm glad too, Kaz."


End file.
